The 2010 Whooping Crane and Wildlife Festival

For a number of years this was the official site for the Whooping Crane and Wildlife Festival. The first Whooping Crane and Wildlife Festival was held in 2001 in in Necedah, Wisconsin.

Content is from the tenth Whooping Crane and Wildlife Festival archived pages and other outside sources.

To get the most up to date information about the Whooping Crane and Wildlife Festival go to the town of Princeton Wisconsin's website and check out their Events Calender for September: https://princetonwi.com/

Can’t Live Without ‘Em: Whooping Crane

Whooping cranes are America’s largest wading birds and also one of the most endangered animals in the country. Standing nearly five feet tall with a wingspan of seven feet and weighing more than 15 pounds, these graceful birds are an impressive sight on land and in the air—that is, if you’re lucky enough to catch a glimpse of the exceedingly rare birds.

Crane species are also some of the oldest animals on the planet. Some crane fossils found in Nebraska were estimated to be some 9 million years old. Whooping cranes were once common across much of the Midwest, where they fed along marshlands and scavenged spent grain in corn and wheat fields. Populations then dwindled to just 21 individuals in the wild by 1941 as a result of widespread habitat loss. The species was first listed as endangered in 1967. And in 2010, fewer than 400 individual birds were found in the wild, with only another 150 being raised in captivity.

Today, dedicated conservation programs are working hard to restore these magnificent white creatures to large portions of their remaining habitat. The primary breeding grounds for whooping cranes is in northeastern Alberta in Canada, but a reintroduced population has also started breeding in central Wisconsin. It’s here that pilots with Operation Migration flying open-wing aircraft have been retraining cranes to migrate down to Florida.

Whooping up the tourism dollars

For 10 years, Necedah National Wildlife Refuge in Wisconsin was the home of an annual Whooping Crane Festival that attracted thousands of visitors and brought in more than $40,000 each year for the local community. A similar festival in Port Aransas, Texas, where whooping cranes spend their winters, is now in its 16th year and is a favorite birding trip for many nature enthusiasts.

Each year 70,000 to 80,000 people visit Aransas National Wildlife Refuge, mostly during the winter, and spend significant amounts locally on lodging, gasoline and supplies. Rockport Chamber of Commerce in Texas estimates that whooping crane-related activities result in annual gross economic benefits of $6 million to the local economy. Approximately 80,000 people also visit the Platte River area of Nebraska each year during peak of spring crane migrations, expending approximately $15 million.

Thank you to our sponsors and patrons for making the
2010 Festival a beautiful day.

2010 Event Schedule

Registration for 10K Whoop It Up Run

Begins 6:30am to 8:00am on grounds

Main Festival Opens

7:00 a.m.

Shuttle Bus (Between Festival and Refuge only)

7:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m.

Pancake Breakfast (All you can eat)

7:00 a.m. - 10:00 a.m.

Necedah Refuge Bus Tours

7:00 a.m. - 11:00 a.m.
(Every half hour)

Whoop It Up 10K Run

Start time is 9:00 a.m.

Arts, Crafts, and Commercial Exhibits open

9:00 a.m. - Close

Speakers

9:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m.

Children's Tent

9:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m.

ATV Poker Run

10:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.

Necedah High School
"Face Painters" (Pavilion)

10:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m.

Guided Walk at Necedah Refuge

12:00 p.m. - returns at 2:45 p.m

Hatch Cranberry Marsh Bus Tour

12:30 p.m. - returns at 3:00 p.m.

Chicken Barbecue Dinner (Pavilion)

3:00 p.m. - Until Sold Out

Necedah Refuge Bus Tour

4:00 p.m. - 4:30 p.m.

Raffle Prize Drawings (Pavilion)

4:30 p.m.

Whooper Brew goes on sale

4:00 p.m. to Close

Live music and dancing

5:00 p.m. to Close

For additional information visitors are encouraged to stop at the Information Booth

Children's Tent

9:00

Wildlife Track T-shirt Printing
Every youth (5-14 years old) that enters the Children's Tent will receive a free t-shirt and make their own wildlife tracking t-shirt while supplies last.

11:00

Build a bird house and bird feeder
Make your own blue bird house and or bird feeder using materials supplied.

12:00

To be announcedsoon.

1:00

To be announced soon.

2:00

Wisconsin's Frogs, Toads and Salamanders
Kids will love learning about Wisconsin's frogs, toads and salamanders as they hold, feed, and listen to them. Many of the state's 12 frogs and 7 salamanders will make live appearances in a hopping, happy and hands-on experience! Presented by Randy Korb.

Other activities throughout the day include a scavenger hunt, face painting, and a bouncing ball cage.

Note: Children 10 years old and younger must be accompanied by an adult.

15. The Necedah WI Lions Charities nor the Necedah Lions are NOT RESPONSIBLE for any accidents or injuries.

16. Please ride responsibly!

17. If you drink, drink responsibly.

18. RIDE SAFE!

NOTE: When leaving the Festival Grounds on ATV's, motorcycles or by car, please keep exhaust noise to a very minimum. Please do not "over throttle" your machines. Keep it courteous. Business marked by ( * ) are located within the Village of Necedah, Downtown area. If you plan to visit these establishments, you must park ATV's in the parking lot behind the Sub-Way building and walk to these establishments. ATV's are NOT ALLOWED on the sidewalks or on Main Street (Hwy 80). The route to the Necedah downtown area is on the map. Please follow the signs from the Veteran's Hall parking lot to the downtown area. Additional raffles will be held on the festival grounds and visitors are encouraged to visit festival exhibitors. Following the ride, a barbecue chicken dinner will be available at the festival grounds, plus "Whooper Brew" (plus other brands) will be available in addition to music by "Fiddlestix". ENJOY YOUR DAY!

The Necedah Lions Club and the Necedah Wisconsin Lions Charities(a 501 (c) (3) organization) charges a fee to help cover the rental costs of the tents, equipment, and busses. Any profits made are donated to the Whooping Crane Eastern Partnership, contributed to the needy in the community via new eye glasses and food baskets, or given to the area challenged-youth summer camp. We make every attempt to keep the fees reasonable.

2010 SPEAKERS SCHEDULE

Time

Speaker/Organization

Program Title

Tent (A or B)*

9:00 a.m.

Lisa Hartman &
Michael Mossman

"Natural History of
Turkey Vultures"

A

9:00 a.m.

Joel Trick

"Kirtland's Warbler
in Wisconsin"

B

10:00 a.m.

Erin Railsback

"Food Stamps For
Ducks"

A

10:00 a.m.

Bob Anderson

"Returning the Duck
Hawk to the
Mississippi Bluffs"

B

11:00 a.m.

John French

"Whooping Crane
Biology & Restoration"

A

11:00 a.m.

Awards Ceremony

"Awards for Whoop It Up 10K Run"

B

12:00 p.m.

Lisa Hartman &
Michael Mossman

"Natural History of
Turkey Vultures"

A

12:00 p.m.

Joel Trick

"Kirtland's Warblers
in Wisconsin"

B

1:00 p.m.

John French

"Whooping Crane Biology & Restoration"

A

1:00 p.m.

Bob Anderson

"Returning the Duck
Hawk to the Mississippi Bluffs"

B

2:00 p.m.

Erin Railsback

"Food Stamps For
Ducks "

A

2:00 p.m.

Jim Backus

"Nature Photography"

B

3:00 p.m.

Joe Duff

"Flying with Birds"

A

** Speakers and their locations subject to change

Results of the 2010 Raffle Prizes

Item Number

Description

Donated by

Winners Name

1

$2,000 Cash

Necedah Lions

Jamie Johannssen

2

$1,000 Cash

Necedah Lions

Jason Steen

3

$500 Cash

Necedah Lions

Mr. and Mrs. Paul Tadda

4

Large Stain Glass Crane

Alena Banzing

5

Spotting Scope

Kendra Bartels

6

Carved Canada Goose

Diane Phillips

7

Cardinal Painted Plate

Michael Belmonte, Sr.

8

Whooping Crane Picture

Don Dodge

9

Wine Basket

Burr Oak Winery

Diane Phillips

10

Monkey Puppet

Sue Stumpner

11

Walking Stick

Friends of Necedah

Bob Stumpner

Drawings were held on Saturday, September 18th, 2010
Tickets were available through the Necedah Wisconsin Lions Charities.
Congratulations to all the 2010 winners and THANK YOU to all who bought tickets to help support our charity programs.

Fourth Annual Whooping Crane & Wildlife Festival Photo Contest

Theme for the 2010 photo contest was

Wild Animals of Wisconsin

Congratuations to Teri Miles of Edgerton, Wisconsin for winning.

Contest Rules

All entries must be postmarked by September 3, 2010.

No Professionals. This contest is ONLY open to amateur photographers. We define a professional as anyone who profits from their photography in any way other than photo contests.

Number of entries per person: no more than 5 (five) allowed.

There will be two categories by age: a youth category 15 years old and under; and an adult category 16 years old and older.

Each image must be the work of the person submitting the entry.

Please clearly mark the back of your entry with your name and address.

Winners will be announced at the Whooping Crane & Wildlife Festival on Saturday, September 18, 2010. Prizes will be an engraved plaque along with a framed 8 x 10 of each category's winning entry.

Submissions may be taken with digital or film cameras, but will need to be submitted as prints. No online digital entries.

All photos are to be black & white or color, 3x5 or 4x6 in size.

Entries will not be returned.

Please send your entries to:

Photo Contest
W4593 Palace Road
Necedah, WI 54646

The Necedah Lions Club and the Necedah Wisconsin Lions Charities (a 501 (c) (3) organization) are part of an international network of 1.3 million men and women in 200 countries and geographic areas who work together to answer the needs that challenge communities around the world.

Known for working to end preventable blindness, the Necedah Lions Club participates in a vast variety of community projects. These projects range from (but not limited to) to help those who are sight impaired and / or blind, to help those who are hearing impaired or deaf, to improve our communities by raising and donating funds to local organizations, schools, and other areas where help is needed, by cleaning up local parks, and providing supplies to victims of natural disasters.

Here is a brief list of our community service:

Assiting young people with disabilities at Camp Rosholt, Wisconsin

Collecting and distributing home health care equipement such as hospital beds, wheelchairs, and crutches to low income families not only in their area, but throughout the nation and in Mexico.

Building wheelchair ramps

Cell phone collection*

Eyeglass recycling*

Children vision screening

Youth hearing screening

Community Diabetes

Environmental Awareness (Whooping Crane & Wildlife Festival)

* Help out our environment by donating your used cell phones. Recycling cell phones is a way of keeping toxic materials out of the environment. At the same time, your cell phone can raise funds for organizations to help needy causes. If you have an unused cell phone that you would like to donate, just drop it off at the Information Booth at the Whooping Crane and Wildlife Festival. We will see that it is properly recycled and if we receive compensation we will see that the money goes toward our projects of sight and hearing conservation.

How to Join

We invite all those who are interested to contact Larry Wargowsky, Membership Chair, at (608) 565-6149 to tell you about our organization. We meet the first and third Thursdays of each month at the Memorial Vets Hall in Necedah.

You can also visit the Necedah Lions booth at the festival to learn more about our organization and club.

Why should I become a Lion?

Lions club members are men and women who strive to make a difference in their local community as well as communities worldwide. Their volunteer efforts go beyond the support of vision care, to addressing unmet health, education, and community service needs locally and worldwide.

As a Lions club member, you can:

Make a difference everyday in your community. Whether it is providing support locally or reaching out internationally, you will have an opportunity to serve.

Be a part of worldwide organizations carrying out community and humanitarian projects. Members allow Lions clubs worldwide to carry out many community and humanitarian programs.

Gain an understanding and have an impact on international humanitarian issues.

Develop relationships with both local and international community and business leaders.